An International Conference was held on Drought Mitigation and Prevention of Land Desertification in Bled, Slovenia on 21-25 April, 2002, organized jointly by the European Regional Working Group of ICID and Slovenian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (SINCID) with the scientific support of European Working Team on Drought of ICID and under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of the Republic Slovenia.
The Conference attracted more than 200 participants from 30 countries and consisted of an Opening Session, where six key-note presentations highlighted the scope, goals and aims of the Conference, three Topic Sessions and a Closing Round Table discussion. In the Topic Sessions 112 papers were presented, 78 orally and 34 in poster form.
Drought is a complex phenomenon, viewed as a sustained, regionally extensive occurrence of below average natural water availability, either in the form of precipitation, river flow, runoff or groundwater that adversely affects the economy by diminishing, or even destroying agricultural production, livestock, energy generation and domestic and industrial water supply. Drought also leads to the degradation of the environment. In areas plagued by prolonged periods of drought, the process triggers chain reactions that result in soil exposure, erosion, land degradation and, ultimately, desertification.
The most significant aspect of desertification is the decline of soil fertility and soil structure and the consequent reduction of the land's carrying capacity for plants, animals and human beings. This leads to widespread poverty, overexploitation and, ultimately, destruction and abandonment of land. In combating desertification priority should be given to preventive measures in drought-prone areas, whose implementation requires the participation of civil society, from local communities to governments along with international organizations.
The Conference focussed on the following topics:
- Impact of climate change on Central and East European and Mediterranean countries;
- Drought as a complex phenomenon affecting society as a whole (significant economic, social and environmental impacts of drought);
- National strategies and national action programmes to mitigate drought and combat land degradation and desertification.
During the Closing Meeting of ERWT on Drought discussion delegates agreed on the following statements and made up the following conclusions and recommendations of the conference:
- Although drought occurs at irregular intervals and its recurrence is unpredictable, a continuous effort is required to mitigate the effects of drought and improve drought preparedness.
- All countries afflicted by recurring and severe drought should have a well defined drought mitigation policy, to serve as a basis for the formulation of a National Drought Strategy and short term action programmes for drought mitigation should be defined and implemented.
- International bi - or - multilateral cooperation among countries involved in drought mitigation is recommended for solving common problems, developing common methods, and implementing common actions for mitigating the harmful impact of drought, and preventing desertification.
- To optimise coordination of the actions required for drought mitigation a National Drought Commission should be set up in drought-prone countries, comprising representatives of all agencies involved.
- Further active research work and plant breeding activity are necessary to create new species and varieties of plants with good or even excellent drought tolerance and usable for production of fodder and food crops in drought-prone areas.
- New water saving techniques, best agricultural management practices and soil cultivation methods for both dry and irrigated farming should be developed and adopted.
- Research work for the evaluation and comparison of different indices used jointly in drought assessment/characterization should be carried out in drought-prone areas to test their validity and effectiveness.
- Well-established as well as advanced methods for drought characterization should be developed, on behalf of the drought-prone countries in Europe, using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) combined with other local indices.
- Conference delegates are ready to establish a Regional Network of Drought Mitigation/Preparedness in the Central and Eastern European region to assist each other in combating the effects of drought.
- Conference delegates expressed the need to set up an expert team or consortium for elaborating a suitable methodology and for constructing the European Drought Sensitivity Map with the involvement of representatives of the European countries concerned.
On behalf of the Organising Committee:
Prof. Dr. Brane Maticic, SINCID